We completed book one!


Wrath of the Righteous


With a 25 point build per character and 5 characters total, we completed it. Hats off to Amber for an amazing finish that gave my players a very memorable session. If anyone has questions feel free to ask but I ran the adventure with very little modification other than compensating for higher builds and additional player.


Congrats! :)

Grand Lodge

What was your party composition?


Well any hindsight on things you did that went well or things you would have done differently?


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The party consisted of one paladin of Iomedai, a cleric, a monk, a wizard, and a rogue.

As for hindsight, one thing I did at the end, because they were a pretty tough group, was to allow them to try to get through the end fight at level 4. Yes, I could have leveled them to five but they were clipping along at a solid pace and the best part, because they had burned through all of their spells and were dangerously low on potions, was it boiled down to a photo finish and they were under the belief the whole time that they were inches away from a TPK. I don't kill groups, and rarely characters, but they didn't know that.

Ultimately that harrowing desperate finish made it feel that much more satisfying for them.


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My group finished book 1 on Sunday as well (well the final fight at least, still some minor cleanup to do in that building).

They use 15 point buy and hero points (though only given out seldom for really good RP or heroic actions)

Party composed of:
* Tiefling paladin of Ragathiel * (Touched by Divinity)
* Dhampir monk of Korada * (Stolen Fury) - Using talented monk book by SGG
* Emberkin Aasimar Summoner of Ragathiel * (Riftwarden Orphan) - Summon appears to be a half demon/half angel entity
* Aasimar Cleric of Vildeis * (Exposed to Awfulness) - DMPC to round out party, eventually going Holy Vindicator

Spoiler:
Two deaths to date:
- One shortly after re-entering the city. The monk had in character reasons to try save one of his npcs and he died against the 6 crusaders due to bad rolls and being weakened after the mongrel base.
- Summoner died during the fight against Jeslyn at the end, mostly due to my fault (the cleric should have channeled or healed). I underestimated her damage with the scythe with all her buffs up. The cleric fell out of Vildeis' favor because of this.

Comments from the player's after:
- I let them make their mongrelmen cohorts (including naming them, choosing their combat style/feats, and so forth (though I made the stats and they were 2nd level rangers). One of the players is taking the leadership feat to keep their mongrelfolk around (I waived the requirements and let them spend their level 5 feat on leadership for it). They really loved that.
- They felt the last battle with the babau was too easy (too many buffs from the wardstone). Their comment exactly was, "It was anti-climatic and while the buffs were really cool, [they] would have preferred something bigger or more challenging.
- The only other thing they thought was too hard was the battle that killed the monk. The crusaders had a ton of AC and a fairly high to hit for 1st level warriors.


To both of you that have finished...

Which mythic powers including feats have all your players taken?


My guys are working on that this week. I can report back on that this weekend.


We're finishing up this coming Sunday including the Devotion Points and our first leveling up in Mythic. The players were given the week to read over the rules and get an idea what they are after.

They have currently expressed interest in the following:
Tiefling Paladin - Champion
Dhampir Monk - Trickster
Aasimar Summoner - Heirophant or Archmage (maybe dual)
Aasimar Cleric - Dual Path Heirophant/Guardian

Only one I can say for sure so far is the cleric though, since that is the DMPC and he has a focus on channeling and survivability. The rest might be subject to change.

I've allowed them to choose a path outside the trait's recommendation and will be adjusting the story and so forth accordingly as I may have to. I didn't want the trait's story influence to also dictate which path they have to take. Also it would be hard to say no to the Paladin of Ragathiel to taking the Champion Path...heh. Too fitting really.

I'll post again after Sunday once we are finished and I have more concrete choices in place. Since we are using mythweavers for the sheets, I might just post those up here.


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Team Aasimar has completed Book 1, five man band style.

The Hero(ine): Sabiha, the LG Aasimar (Lawbringer) Oracle (Purifier, Battle Mystery) of Iomedae. Touched by Divinity/Hierophant, Inspired Spell, Heathen Slayer: Baphomet, Mythic Power Attack.
The Lancer: Eran, the NG Aasimar (Plumekith) Gunslinger (Musket Master) of Desna. Chance Encounter/Trickster, Surprise Strike, Path Dabbling: Limitless Range, Mythic Deadly Aim
The Big Guy: Dentanis, the LG Aasimar (Angelkin) Paladin (Oath of Vengeance) of Shizuru. Stolen Fury/Champion, Sudden Attack, Impossible Speed, Mythic Vital Strike. Wielder of Radiance, now a Large Katana as he's a houserule Powerful Build type
The Smart Guy: Cernan, the LG Aasimar (Musetouched) Bard (Archaeologist) of Zohls. Child of the Crusade/Marshal, Decisive Strike, Deadly Guidance, Dual Path: Trickster(Surprise Strike)
The Smart Gal or The Pet (don't ever call her The Chick!): Feredessa, the NG Aasimar (Monkey Idyllkin) Witch (Time) of Sarenrae. Riftwarden Orphan/Archmage, Wild Arcana, Mythic Hexes, Mythic Accursed Hex.

Adventure Details:
Team Aasimar diplo-manced all three NPCs, dedicating one high charisma face to each one (poor Dentanis drew Horgus). Thanks to some good RP and rolls, all the NPCs were all Friendly before they reached the ruined chapel, and the Mongrelman were on board.

They proceeded to curb stomp their way up to and through the ruins of Kenabres, knocking all 3 safehouses off before arriving at the Inn.

Then they managed to roll the Gray Garrison in one go. The only speed bump was the Alchemist, and that due to Blur's miss chance. In doing so, they managed to pick up every devotion point except cleaning the Chapel, which they picked up afterwards.

Since there were five, they managed to reach the final fight at only level 4. They were refreshed per the encounter notes, but I "forgot" to give them any of the bonuses, thinking I'd phase them in if necessary. Thanks to the Gunslinger, the Paladin, and a purchased scroll of Haste, there were only 4 Babaus after the first round; they never got their bonuses. In the end, thanks to some good tactics and fairly conspicuous potion consumption, they won.

Based on my reading of their Mythic choices, I may need to give everything in the next module the advanced template. Possibly more than once.

Liberty's Edge

Aleron wrote:
I didn't want the trait's story influence to also dictate which path they have to take.

This is one of the reasons I am waiting for at least Demon's Heresy to run the campaign. I want to see where all of the plotlines and hooks are going before I dive in.


Update:

Party finished book 1 with 10 Devotion Points (only missed fixing the helmets). Very impressed with that. They have leveled up with mythic as thus:

Mattias Willow, Devoted Aasimar Cleric of Vildeis

MYTHIC:

Path: Guardian/Hierophant

Tier 1 - Hard to Kill (Ex), Mythic Power 5/day (Su), Surge +1d6 (Su) / Guardian's Call (Sudden Block), Divine Surge (Inspired Spell), Mythic Feat (Dual Path - Hierophant), Path Ability (Faith's Reach)

Corliss Domarien, the Wrathful Pitborn Paladin of Ragathiel

MYTHIC:

Path: Champion

Tier 1 - Hard to Kill (Ex), Mythic Power 5/day (Su), Surge +1d6 (Su) / Champion's strike (Fleet charge), Mythic Feat (Mythic Spell Lore - Protection from Evil), Path Ability (Mythic Smite)

Samael Alaion, Inspired Emberkin Summoner of Ragathiel and his faithful companion, Oriax

MYTHIC:

Path: Archmage/Hierophant

Tier 1 - Hard to Kill (Ex), Mythic Power 5/day (Su), Surge +1d6 (Su) / Divine Surge (Beasts Fury), Archmage Arcana (Wild Arcana), Mythic Feat (Dual Path - Hierophant), Path Ability (Sustained by Faith)

Msimangu, Redeemed Dhampir Monk of Korada

MYTHIC:

Path: Trickster

Tier 1 - Hard to Kill (Ex), Mythic Power 5/day (Su), Surge +1d6 (Su) / Trickster attack (Surprise Strike (Ex)), Mythic Feat (Mythic Dodge), Path Ability (Wall Running)


Congratulations GMs! Sounds like your players had alot of fun.


We finished last saturday, and the final fight turned out surprisingly easier than expected.

Having six characters, with high stats, good equipment, and my 18 STR, power attacking, active inquisitor bane and judgement of destruction, critical hitting cold iron greataxe + other buffing bonuses didn't hurt either. Managed an insta-kill of one of the end game baddies.

I think some of us earned some righteous medals without realizing it.

It's a sure bet that our GM will "readjust" some encounters.

Liberty's Edge

My group finished on Friday and since I allowed them to roll stats I simply went in and rebuilt encounters to make them more challenging. I missed a few and had to run them as written. Though they will recall the end fight of the Grey Garrison the best. I added some mooks to those last two fights before the babaus.

They found it far better than the babau encounter as they actually had people go down against both the minotaur and Jeslyn. The minotaur hurt badly enough they actually request I pull in an NPC with them. They thrilled at how they burned through all their spells and abilities on those two fights.

My end group looks like this as we did lose one character by the choice of the player. He felt his concept was winding up horrible in the game as he was focused on dealing electric damage.

Davor: Half-Orc Inquisitor of Sarenrae (Redemption)
Govad: Aasimar (Angelkin) Oracle (Battle)
Medeia: Tiefling (Demon-Spawn) Sorcerer (Linnorm: Acid)
Raphael Wyvernsbane: Dhampir Magus

Their soon to be Cohorts

Cerberus: Tiefling Rogue
Faxon: Tiefling Witch (If they can redeem him)
Akatsuki Wyvernsbane: Kitsune Druid (Reincarnating)- Wife to Raphael

I am waiting on the final decisions of the party about paths. The group did manage to get all of the devotion points. More because of how they were acting and being careful. This should be interesting in Book Two though


Andoric wrote:

Team Aasimar has completed Book 1, five man band style.

The Hero(ine): Sabiha, the LG Aasimar (Lawbringer) Oracle (Purifier, Battle Mystery) of Iomedae. Touched by Divinity/Hierophant, Inspired Spell, Heathen Slayer: Baphomet, Mythic Power Attack.
The Lancer: Eran, the NG Aasimar (Plumekith) Gunslinger (Musket Master) of Desna. Chance Encounter/Trickster, Surprise Strike, Path Dabbling: Limitless Range, Mythic Deadly Aim
The Big Guy: Dentanis, the LG Aasimar (Angelkin) Paladin (Oath of Vengeance) of Shizuru. Stolen Fury/Champion, Sudden Attack, Impossible Speed, Mythic Vital Strike. Wielder of Radiance, now a Large Katana as he's a houserule Powerful Build type
The Smart Guy: Cernan, the LG Aasimar (Musetouched) Bard (Archaeologist) of Zohls. Child of the Crusade/Marshal, Decisive Strike, Deadly Guidance, Dual Path: Trickster(Surprise Strike)
The Smart Gal or The Pet (don't ever call her The Chick!): Feredessa, the NG Aasimar (Monkey Idyllkin) Witch (Time) of Sarenrae. Riftwarden Orphan/Archmage, Wild Arcana, Mythic Hexes, Mythic Accursed Hex.

** spoiler omitted **...

How did you get them to do the devotion stuff? I can't for the life of me work out how to get my players to do that kind of thing.


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I did a couple things to point them in the right direction for devotion points:

Some Spoilers:

- Before the campaign even began I explicitly stated it was good aligned and good aligned actions would have the best rewards and bonuses. I ensured each player understood this while making their character and that going 'above the call of duty' often had extra rewards. Starting with a party that wants to do good and understands the ideas behind it goes a long way (getting them to read over a section in Chronicles of the Righteous and similar books helped too).
- Irabeth is usually with them during this. Having her offhandedly remark about the sad state of the shrines or how terrible it is to see the former leader of the city reduced to such a state was enough for them to initiate some action.
- Emphasize above the descriptions in the rooms. For example, the altars I really tried to hit home the reeking smell of rotting flesh, sound of hoards of buzzing flies, and just how horrible and desecrated these places were.

Paizo Employee Creative Director

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Stabbald wrote:
Andoric wrote:

Team Aasimar has completed Book 1, five man band style.

The Hero(ine): Sabiha, the LG Aasimar (Lawbringer) Oracle (Purifier, Battle Mystery) of Iomedae. Touched by Divinity/Hierophant, Inspired Spell, Heathen Slayer: Baphomet, Mythic Power Attack.
The Lancer: Eran, the NG Aasimar (Plumekith) Gunslinger (Musket Master) of Desna. Chance Encounter/Trickster, Surprise Strike, Path Dabbling: Limitless Range, Mythic Deadly Aim
The Big Guy: Dentanis, the LG Aasimar (Angelkin) Paladin (Oath of Vengeance) of Shizuru. Stolen Fury/Champion, Sudden Attack, Impossible Speed, Mythic Vital Strike. Wielder of Radiance, now a Large Katana as he's a houserule Powerful Build type
The Smart Guy: Cernan, the LG Aasimar (Musetouched) Bard (Archaeologist) of Zohls. Child of the Crusade/Marshal, Decisive Strike, Deadly Guidance, Dual Path: Trickster(Surprise Strike)
The Smart Gal or The Pet (don't ever call her The Chick!): Feredessa, the NG Aasimar (Monkey Idyllkin) Witch (Time) of Sarenrae. Riftwarden Orphan/Archmage, Wild Arcana, Mythic Hexes, Mythic Accursed Hex.

** spoiler omitted **...

How did you get them to do the devotion stuff? I can't for the life of me work out how to get my players to do that kind of thing.

To be honest... if your players would never do that kind of thing, that might be because they've never thought of it and have never realized that such actions can have rewards. It's probably worth it to flat out tell the PCs that acts like that can have rewards if that's never been a part of gameplay before. If you want to couch it in game, just have folks make Knowledge (religion) checks (or just a Wisdom check) and tell whoever rolled highest, "Oh! Nice roll; that's what you needed to learn this:......"

SIDE STORY: One interesting playtest result from watching folks play RPGs for the first time. They used the rules and were having a lot of fun fighting monsters and all that... but once the 1st encounter was open, they got stuck. Turns out, they didn't realize that they could open a door (the GM was new too) to go to the next room—they assumed the door was just background scenery and didn't realize that in a tabletop RPG, you can do whatever you want and interact with anything. This is obviously a VERY different scenario than the devotion point thing... but it's similar—if players have never seen a game play element in play before, they might not even realize it's an option. Sometimes, the GM needs to say, "Do you want to open the door and find new adventure?"

Liberty's Edge

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I actually did that with my group. Only one player has played a cleric before and really they never thought of it though in various scenarios. To get them on the idea I had them making Knowledge (religion) hecks as James suggests.

It felt right and worked due to two of them being divine based characters. Three of them until the druid died so I felt they should have an idea of such things. I also made secret rolls for their deities to nudge them into acting. Anything they felt they could not deal with immediately they made a point to deal with once they defeated Jeslyn.

They liked it and I was not wholly bothered. My group already embraces the other big theme of the AP and have done so for a long time. They like being able to redeem the enemy or find a way to not kill things when possible.


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Aleron wrote:

I did a couple things to point them in the right direction for devotion points:

** spoiler omitted **

I hadn't considered using your second point in that way, and it's a really great idea. Thanks. :)

James Jacobs wrote:
To be honest... if your players would never do that kind of thing, that might be because they've never thought of it and have never realized that such actions can have rewards. It's probably worth it to flat out tell the PCs that acts like that can have rewards if that's never been a part of gameplay before. If you want to couch it in game, just have folks make Knowledge (religion) checks (or just a Wisdom check) and tell whoever rolled highest, "Oh! Nice roll; that's what you needed to learn this:......"

I was thinking that my players would never do this kind of thing, and for a couple of them I'm probably right. Just yesterday however one of them surprised me in the most delightful way.

Spoiler:
After being surprised by the former Dwarven cleric in the underground temple of Torag, the paladin spent his time building a small cairn for the fallen priest and praying over it to help him find his way back to Father of Creation. He even used the broken stone benches in the temple as raw materials hoping that using the dwarf's own work from a time of devotion before his fall would help him rest. This was such a cool and unexpected moment that I'm going to be awarding a devotion point for sure!

Beats the heck out of simply repairing a temple that no one is going to visit!

James Jacobs wrote:


SIDE STORY: One interesting playtest result from watching folks play RPGs for the first time. They used the rules and were having a lot of fun fighting monsters and all that... but once the 1st encounter was open, they got stuck. Turns out, they didn't realize that they could open a door (the GM was new too) to go to the next room—they assumed the door was just background scenery and didn't realize that in a tabletop RPG, you can do whatever you want and interact with anything. This is obviously a VERY different scenario than the devotion point thing... but it's similar—if players have never seen a game play element in play before, they might not even realize it's an option. Sometimes, the GM needs to say, "Do you want to open the door and find new adventure?"

Man, this is just about one of the best things I've read on this website for sure. It's interesting to see how sometimes it takes the newest of players to teach us old dogs new ways of looking at things.


Stabbald wrote:
Andoric wrote:

Team Aasimar has completed Book 1, five man band style.

The Hero(ine): Sabiha, the LG Aasimar (Lawbringer) Oracle (Purifier, Battle Mystery) of Iomedae. Touched by Divinity/Hierophant, Inspired Spell, Heathen Slayer: Baphomet, Mythic Power Attack.
The Lancer: Eran, the NG Aasimar (Plumekith) Gunslinger (Musket Master) of Desna. Chance Encounter/Trickster, Surprise Strike, Path Dabbling: Limitless Range, Mythic Deadly Aim
The Big Guy: Dentanis, the LG Aasimar (Angelkin) Paladin (Oath of Vengeance) of Shizuru. Stolen Fury/Champion, Sudden Attack, Impossible Speed, Mythic Vital Strike. Wielder of Radiance, now a Large Katana as he's a houserule Powerful Build type
The Smart Guy: Cernan, the LG Aasimar (Musetouched) Bard (Archaeologist) of Zohls. Child of the Crusade/Marshal, Decisive Strike, Deadly Guidance, Dual Path: Trickster(Surprise Strike)
The Smart Gal or The Pet (don't ever call her The Chick!): Feredessa, the NG Aasimar (Monkey Idyllkin) Witch (Time) of Sarenrae. Riftwarden Orphan/Archmage, Wild Arcana, Mythic Hexes, Mythic Accursed Hex.

** spoiler omitted **...

How did you get them to do the devotion stuff? I can't for the life of me work out how to get my players to do that kind of thing.

Remember that broken Phylactery of Faithfulness the party can find, earlier in the adventure? If you can cast Make Whole, you can fix it. (It's only a CL 1 item). They identified what it had been, and when they did I told them it had "some interesting residual magical properties". They didn't discover anything on repairing it, but when the devotion opportunities arose, the Phylactery gave the impression "someone" was benevolently watching, no more, no less. This led them to ponder what the right thing might be to do, and consult their holy texts for insight (Knowledge: Religion checks).

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